City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Publications and Research York College 2002 Terrance Gordon ("Terry") Sawchuk John A. Drobnicki CUNY York College How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/yc_pubs/189 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact:
[email protected] SAWCHUK, TERRANCE GORDON (b. 28 Dec. 1929 in East Kildonan, Canada; d. 31 May 1970 in New York City), Hall of Fame hockey goaltender who set records for shutouts and victories and is considered to be the best ever. Born and raised in East Kildonan (later part of Winnipeg), Terry was the third of four sons (and one adopted daughter) of Louis Sawchuk, a tinsmith who had emigrated as a boy from Austrian-controlled Ukraine, and his wife Anne (Maslak). Their second son died young from scarlet fever, and the oldest, an aspiring hockey goaltender whom Terry idolized and was inseparable from, died suddenly of a heart attack at age 17. At age 12, Terry injured his right elbow playing football, and, not wanting to be punished, hid the injury, preventing the dislocation from properly healing. Thus, the arm was left with limited mobility and several inches shorter than the left, and would bother him his entire career. After inheriting his brother’s goalie equipment, Sawchuk began playing in a local league and worked for a sheetmetal company installing vents over bakery ovens. His goaltending talent was so evident that at age 14 a local scout for the Detroit Red Wings had him work out with the team, who later signed him to an amateur contract and sent him to play for their junior team in Galt in 1946, where he also finished eleventh grade.